67 or more retailers eyeing San Diego

The nation’s retail industry has awakened from the recession and is scouting new storefront sites here and around the country, according to a report by ChainLinks Retail Advisors.

The marketing firm's California-based research director issued its spring expansion guide last week with dozens of chains stating their building and leasing plans.

San Diego is listed only once on the list of expansion plans -- for the French health-care and body-products store L’Occitane, which already operates outlets at Fashion Valley and University Towne Centre.

But 66 other companies may have San Diego in mind because of plans for Western states, California or Southern California -- not to mention entries that say “multiple U.S. markets” and “North America” is where they plan to grow.

It may come as a surprise to economists and consumers that retailers are on the hunt for more space, considering reports of lingering vacancies in many strip centers, malls and stand-alone retail locations. Money remains tight for small business to open up or expand, and personal credit balances remain so high that the shop-till-you-drop attitudes of prerecession times seem like last season’s forgotten fashion trend.

But according to Ron Pepper, principal and founder of the Retail Insite brokerage in San Diego, almost no vacancies exist in the most desirable locations locally and companies that want to expand here can’t.

“Ten have looked at the county and none have come here,” he said.

Pepper said no new significant retail buildings are expected to open this year or next year, and almost none opened last year.

“In my 28 years in the business, this is first time I can say that,” he said.

But 2013 and 2014 should see some pickup in retail construction openings: “Things on the drawing boards I’m working on, I think will happen then.”

He said the 5 percent vacancy rate countywide is largely concentrated on unanchored strip centers and secondary locations away from the coast and other desirable spots. But the rate is 1 percent is less in the most sought-after spots.

“There are pockets where you could build a couple million square feet if we had the real estate,” he said. “That’s going to happen and rents are coming back up enough to see that development will start,” he said.

National chains typically enter California first in San Francisco and Los Angeles-Orange County before scouting for sites in San Diego, he said.

“Once they are in California and throughout the state, San Diego usually is in the top of some of the best stores as an overall market,” he said. “Definitely, we’re a very strong market.”

Retail possibly headed toward San Diego

ChainLinks Retail Advisors’s list of retailers seeking expansions included San Diego only once explicitly as a plan to build or lease. But the area might figure into companies’ plans, since most said they hope to grow in “multiple U.S. markets.”